Steve Bing Hits Vegas With Bill Clinton, Cancels on Jane Fonda

Super secretive rich guy Steve Bing seems to be really getting around these days ... and in a very public way. Probably too public for his own liking.

This thought struck us when we read Jane Fonda's blog yesterday -- yes, everybody has one.

Rich guy Steve Bing

"Then, we all went to dinner at Craft as guests of Steve Bing who didn't come himself cause he wasn't feeling well," Fonda wrote. "I sat next to Jimmy (Caan) and can't remember laughing so hard. Robbie Robertson (The Band) was there, too. I am enjoying getting to know him."

Bing's most recent notoriety started a few weeks ago when former vice president Al Gore gave him a public shout-out for supplying the plane that flew journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling away from captivity in North Korea and back to freedom in the United States.

"To Steve Bing and all the folks who have made the flight possible," Gore said at a nationally televised press conference, "we say a word of thanks, deep thanks as well."

Then, a few days later, the New York Times reported that Bing was partying with Bill Clinton in Vegas, describing the one-time billionaire -- according to L.A. Business Journal, Bing took a major hit last year and now has a net worth of merely $590 million -- as one of the former president's "best friends."

Soon after that, Bing's name pops up again -- L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa appoints Jay Carson, a Bing employee who also hit the town with Clinton in Vegas, to be a new chief deputy mayor for the city of Los Angeles.

All of the major news outlets make note of the Bing/Villaraigosa connection, and former Daily News editor Ron Kaye writes on his blog that there's something fishy about the Carson appointment, suggesting that it may ultimately help Bing become a billionaire again.

Also last month, Bing got noticed for his work with legendary rocker Jerry Lee Lewis, aka "The Killer," who has new material coming out.

It's an awful lot of press for a guy who's supposedly publicity-shy, and makes us wonder what exactly is Bing up to ... in the big scheme of things.

McDonald has won the "Journalist of the Year" award from the Los Angeles Press Club and the prestigious "Public Service" award from the Association of Alternative Newsmedia. He has dedicated his career to giving voice to the voiceless.